Oogoo Heart Mold
After seeing this article on Hackaday describing an easy to make silicone casting material I knew I had to give it a quick go. The photos here show the results of making a mold of a polymer clay heart and then making a heart shaped ice cube from it.
Oogoo is basically equal parts corn flour and sealant, mixed into a white goo. This Instructable has all the details for making Oogoo and fully documents its many uses.
Mixing Oogoo takes a bit of effort, I used a cardboard tub as a container and an old paintbrush handle to mix with, this probably made it more difficult than it needed to be but that’s what I had to hand.
Once mixed, i found it quite difficult to spread over my heart form, next time i plan to wear latex gloves and shape it by hand.
Even with my shoddy mixing, crappy tools and less than ideal spreading technique, I ended up with a usable mold in around 2- 3 hours. To test it out, I simply filled it with water and froze it for an hour or two.
As you can see, the Ice heart isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty close. A definite success!
In future, if I need to make a mold for any reason, Oogoo is going to be my first port of call, its quick, cheap and absolutely stinks of vinegar. What more could you want?
October 14th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
For small batches, I bet a peanut butter stirrer would work well.
October 31st, 2010 at 5:02 am
I tried this myself. I’m not sure of the consistence of the final product. My first attempt seemed too sticky, while the second try was really dry. Any tips?
November 5th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
It is pretty dry/thick paste.
You may want to check out this http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/11/reader_research_diy_casting_silicon.html
not tried it myself, but looks very promising.
January 26th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Nice work, word of caution though. Oogoo may not be the best substance for an icecube tray as the silicone has some relatively nasty food-unsafe stuff in it.
Awesome mold though!
January 26th, 2011 at 9:54 pm
Thanks for the warning but the ice cube was used purely as test, mainly as water was the only thing I had in the house to cast with.
Hopefully the strong vinegar smell (which is still present) is warning enough that it’s fairly nasty stuff.
November 29th, 2012 at 3:01 am
Hey, Greg,
Not sure where you are with your molding efforts, but I posted my own experience at the instructable you listed in your post. Just sharing in case you might be interested. After all my frustrations and failures with using caulk for molds, coming across this solution was awesome. Take care.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Your-Own-Sugru-Substitute/?ALLSTEPS
*see comment by me dated Nov 28, 2012
March 24th, 2013 at 9:57 am
Food grade silicone sealant is 100% safe for this sort of thing. It’s designed to be used around food, specifically for this purpose actually. Ice, candies, meats, etc.